Policy Round Up: Government Shut Down

Moriah RayMoriah Ray is an editorial assistant with GlobalPolicy.tv. She is a Government and Politics major with a minor in international development and conflict management at the University of Maryland College Park where she is a rising Junior. She is passionate about international affairs. Moriah also has a strong interest in human rights advocacy and using public policy to encourage equality.

The government shut down began last Tuesday, October 1, leading to a great deal of frustration amongst politicians and citizens alike. It is not clear how much longer the shut down will last, but thus far it has led to thousands of federal employees being furloughed and essential funding for programs such as Head start being cut. The longer the shut down lasts, the larger the consequences will be. The lack of progress in negotiations has caused a great deal of tension as the debt ceiling deadline quickly approaches on October 17th.

Al Jazeera America argues the failure to come to a debt ceiling agreement will cause detrimental damage not only to the U.S economy but the world economy as well:

“The probability that the United States could default on its debt on Oct. 17 because of a political impasse over a budget bill seems increasingly likely to governments, traders and financial analysts around the world. Global markets responded to the worries by falling sharply as politicians in the U.S. inched closer to a scenario that many say would have catastrophic consequences for virtually every nation on earth.”

Paul Kane and Aaron Blake debate over whether or not the government shut down can be blamed on Republican gerrymandering:

“A big chunk of the Republican Party right now is — are in gerrymandered districts where there’s no competition and those folks are much more worried about a tea party challenger than they are about a general election where they’ve got to compete against a Democrat or go after independent votes,” Obama said. “And in that environment, it’s a lot harder for them to compromise.”

Is President Obama right? Are Republican districts drawn by Republican lawmakers the reason that compromise is such a dirty word these days?

Truthout interviewee Rania Khalek argues that the shut down is revealing what the goverment prioritizes the most:

“Well, what will stay open and functioning are probably what in my opinion are the worst aspects of the government. So, for example, deportations will continue largely unimpeded. The same goes for—drone operators will continue to go to work. So drone strikes will likely continue, as well as surveillance drones on the border. The DEA will continue to function, the FBI. NSA spying programs will continue.

And then when you compare that with what’s actually being impacted the most, it’s really revealing on [how] our government prioritizes things. For example, children, low-income children, low-income mothers, and low-income pregnant women who depend on WIC, [which is] the food program for low-income mothers and children under five and infants), that program basically stops getting federal funding. So they have to rely on state funding, which won’t last longer than a week, is what the estimate is.”

Robin Abarian discusses the negative impact the shut down is having on the future of the GOP:

“Public Policy Polling (which just released a hilarious poll finding Congress is less popular than toenail fungus, zombies and the IRS) conducted a poll for the liberal political group Moveon.org in a handful of swing districts and discovered in theoretical matchups between current representatives and generic “Democrats” that the Republican majority in the House was vulnerable.”